NO GIRLS ALLOWED!

The men and boys on my side of the family went on a BOYS ONLY camping and fishing trip up to the Uintah's this weekend. (Us girls didn't mind because we are going on our annual GIRLS ONLY St. George trip in a few weeks and we enjoyed staying home watching chick-flicks and eating wayyyyyyy tooooooooo much junk by ourselves)

They had a lot of fun and caught A TON of fish! Saturday evenings fish fry was delicious!

Mark got a little hungry before the fish fry and he does LOVE sushi! He's always trying to make someone laugh, even if fish-guts are involved!

Nephew Dawson excited with his catch!
My studly brother Shane

Nephews Bryson and Jordan and their dog Rusty who loves water and fish

Nephews Braden and Jaron soooo excited to sleep in Uncle Mark's trailer

Mark hopes to make this an annual tradition because they all had such a great time!

Cross Country Season Begins

Well it's official, Cross Country for Taylir started this morning with the annual AF Grass Relay Invitational held at AF. Tay did awesome, even though she was tripped at the very beginning of the race and fell forward onto the track and scraped herself up pretty bad and cracked her elbow. The whole race is done primarily on grass with just literally a few yards of track to run on at the very beginning and ending of the race, but she falls when she is on the track......ouch! Needless to say she wasn't in the best of shape for running the remaining 2 miles but she tried her best and still finished 21st out of 282 girls with a time of 14 - 42. I think that is pretty impressive! The pictures aren't that great because Mark took the camera with him on the boys camping trip so I was left with my cell phone camera which doesn't take the best of pictures, sorry.

A few of the girls and Taylir icing her elbow after the race - she managed a smile!

Way to go Taylir and the AF XC team 2009-10!!! Here's to the start of an awesome season!!!!

FOOTBALL!!!!!!

It's that time of year again when from our house you can hear the high school band playing, announcers over a loud speaker, the faint sound of whistles being blown and there is a crispness in the air that is welcome to the feel. On any given day, the park up the street has boys of all ages running plays and coaches yelling words of encouragement :) It's a time of year that I absolutely love and enjoy and means one thing...................FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night was Carson's first game of the season with the 7th grade Cavemen. This year has the majority of the boys returning and the same coaching staff. Last year the boys won the title for their age-group and we're keeping our fingers crossed for another great year. They got off to a great start last night by winning WestLake 41-8. My Carsy boy had 2 of the touchdowns and 3 of the extra points. It was an awesome night!! The picture above is of Carson (#11) getting ready to receive the ball and run in a touchdown.

WAY TO GO CARSON AND THE 7TH GRADE CAVEMEN!!!

And She's Off!!

Well the day I've been putting off has finally arrived......the day that my baby girl leaves home and starts the next phase of her life. She left tonight for St. George to live with her Grammy and Papa and go to school at Dixie State. She was going to leave Thursday but we (okay, I) decided Friday would be better, then on Friday we (I) decided Saturday would be better, and at one time today we (I) decided tomorrow would be best, but ultimately I knew I needed to put my selfish feelings aside of not wanting to let go of her and to get her there with plenty of time to settle in before her 8 am class Monday morning.

This morning me and the dogs decided to wake her up and have a good cuddle!

Tonight the family went out to dinner for our "Last Supper".

Finally it was time to head to the airport and say our goodbyes. I promised I wouldn't cry and held true to my promise even though inside I was absolutely dying! The only thing that kept my emotions from spilling over the edge was knowing that she will be home again on Friday for a friends missionary farewell on Sunday. I love that she has free flight benefits so she can take advantage of the 5 flights going in and out of St. George daily......I think we will see quite a bit of her! :)


I love you my Kylicans! Good Luck on your new adventure! Your bedroom is always here!

Back To School 2009

I can't believe it's time for school to start once again. It seems like we were just attending all the year-end activities and graduations for the 2008-09 school year and now I'm sending the kids off to another year of school. This year there are big changes with 3 of the 4 kids; Carson starts his first year of Jr. High, Taylir starts her first year of High School and Kylie starts her first year of college and living away from home. I'm not one who likes change, especially when it involves my babies growing up, so I've been a little out of sorts this last little while and just trying to cope with all the change and hoping it turns into a "normal" soon. I like my comfort zone and I don't feel like I'm in it right now. I feel the need for a large bowl of cookie dough, a good Lifetime movie and cuddling up with the kids/dogs on my bed.....that's what I do to de-stress! Last night we ate dinner on my bed and watched NCIS. The kids couldn't believe I was letting them eat outside of the kitchen! Anything to make the mom happy though!!! Luckily the kids are really excited about their new adventures and they aren't as crazy as their mom!! :)

Carson starts his first year (7th grade) at the Jr. High

Colton starts his last year (9th grad) at the Jr. High

Taylir starts her first year (10th grade) at the High School

Kylie will leave for Southern Utah this weekend. These are a few pictures of her birthday party two nights ago.

My Baby Is All Grown Up!!!

Today my baby girl Kylie turns the magical age of "18"

Where did all the time go??? I feel like she should still be in school and when the other kids start school tomorrow she won't be going. She actually leaves this weekend to start a new adventure and the next phase of her life. She will be moving to Southern Utah and going to school there. I don't know how I am going to handle the day she leaves. It makes me sad already thinking about it. But I know that this is part of life and it helps knowing that she is so excited about her future.

I am so proud of my Kylie and the young woman she has become. She is beautiful not only on the outside but on the inside too. I love you Ky and know that you always have a bedroom here at home whenever you need it.

Good luck on your next big adventure and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

GO GETTIM' DOWN THERE IN THOSE RED HILLS!!!

Mark's Garden 2009

Each year Mark plants his famous garden and each year we get an abundance of fresh produce. So much, that I hate to say that some of it goes to waste by the end of the season because we have had so much. We like to blanch and freeze the majority of it because to us it tastes better than pressure cooking it in bottles.

This year has been a little less abundant in the bean department, other than the pole bean plants themselves look more like "Jack in the Bean Stock" plants. He tried pole beans this year rather than the normal bush beans and this is the first year we've had minimal beans. I think he'll go back to bush beans next year.

The tomatoes were slow in coming but that is probably due to the colder than normal month of June that we had. They are on now though and we've already made a batch of canned salsa.

The cucumber, zucchini, squash and pepper plants have produced a lot also. We've had to give away cucumbers because they just keep mass producing.

Mark loves planting his garden and calls it his "therapy". I feel bad but over the years I've made him down-size his garden because it has been just way too big and we haven't been able to keep up with it as much as we would like to. I have already told him again this year that he still needs to go a little smaller, but if it is his therapy, then well......what's a wife to do?!?

Burston Ponds

Friday evening we went camping with several families in our ward to Burston Ponds in Mona. It was a lot of fun and the kids had tons of water time! Whether kayaking, rope swinging or catching crawdads and frogs, they kept plenty busy while the grownups had a great time chatting and visiting at camp.

Luckily we had all of Friday to play in the water because Saturday morning we woke up to terrible wind and cold weather that actually brought SNOW to Mt. Timp if you can believe that! Everybody packed up pretty early that morning and headed home. While we were driving home the temperature dropped to 58 degrees......brrrrr! And it's August!!!!!!

Thank you to all our fun ward friends!

The Best Sunday Drive

Yesterday after church we decided to take a Sunday afternoon drive since summer is coming to an end and we haven't really taken that many since we've been gone so much. Sunday drives are the best when church is on the 9 am schedule and there is plenty of daylight time in the summer.

We convinced the kids to come along for the ride and we would be gone only an hour or so.........well, it was more like 4 hours actually. Once we got headed up our beautiful American Fork Canyon, we decided that we would like to head out onto the face of Mt. Timpanogos and look out over the valley. The kids had never been up that far and were up for the drive if you can believe that. The road in is an extremely bumpy and dirty ride where you need to go about 5-10 mph to avoid all the divots/ditches/washout spots/rocks in the road. We decided that after we got past the Timpanookee Campground roads we would let the kids ride in the back and enjoy the scenery.

Once we finally made it to the top the kids couldn't believe that they were looking out on the Salt Lake Valley from one view and then the Utah County Valley from another view. They had fun trying to find buildings and roads they knew from up that high. What a gorgeous view this was and the wild flowers that were growing along the road were spectacular! The kids were collecting flowers and other "growing things" along the whole course of the drive.

We were all a dusty mess! The truck wasn't black any longer!

The kids saw this one lonely tree kind of by itself in this meadow and wanted to hike down to it.

We deemed it "The Tree of Life".

What a nice hubby helping the wifey down from the truck after posing for pictures in the bed of the truck.

We had put off our Sunday Lunch until after our 1 hour drive and so by the time we arrived home 4 hours later we were starving and extremely dirty. Everyone re-showered and then we enjoyed a nice little barbecued chicken lunch.....well dinner. But what a fun Sunday afternoon our family had. It was nice being all together and enjoying some down time before our crazy hectic schedules start up again next week with the start of school.

My Favorite House

This past Monday evening I attended a family reunion. Truthfully there are several family reunions on both sides of my family each summer but there is one in particular that I don't like to miss. This is the reunion for the posterity of Sam and Birdie Turner from Bluffdale Utah.

In my eyes there have never been two people who were more perfect than they were. I know that most kids think their grandparents are the best, but truly, my grandparents were incredible! If they were still alive today they would be 111 and 97. Grandpa died in 1983 with Grandma following in 1989. I have many wonderful memories from my childhood as a much loved grand-daughter of these two. They referred to me as their "Little Lellie". Sunday evenings there was never a question on where we would be....everybody went to Grandpa and Grandmas house. I remember sitting with the adults in the front living room of the house and listening to the stories of the past, recalling what was learned in church that day or just talking and laughing about anything. I remember dreaming of the day when I would be an adult just like all of them and specifically wanting to be just like my older married girl cousins who had children. I wanted so badly to be done with being a kid and wanted to be a mom and make sack lunches for my kids going to school - yes that is one memory I have, wanting to make sack lunches for my kids....????? Although I had lots of cousins there my age and younger, I loved to listen in on the adult conversation. You could guarantee that stories from Grandpa and Grandmas upbrining or early married years would be shared. What a rich heritage I have from both these two people and when visiting the town of Bluffdale where they were both raised, I think I am related to probably half the town.

Grandpa and Grandmas little white house with the red roof is still in the family to this day and it is used as a "starter" house for those grandkids/great grandkids who are just starting out. Unfortunately I never got to live in this favorite little house of mine because I was already grown and married before they both died. Even with the house being in the family I have not been in it for 10 plus years.

Every time we drive out to my sisters house we drive right past Grandpa and Grandmas house and I always point it out to the kids. The house still looks exactly the same but the fields and barns behind the house have since fallen or homes have been built in it's place. Grandpa had an incredible farm and what wonderful times I had as a little girl running through the fields and barns while playing with my cousins.

One specific memory I have as a child is wanting to taste of Grandmas special dark crunchy honey she had in the cupboard under her kitchen sink. The honey I had at my house wasn't like hers and didn't taste like hers either. I would have a spoonful or some spread on a slice of bread every time I visited. I didn't know until I was an adult that this wasn't any special kind of honey you could only find in specialty stores, it was honey that had gotten old and crystalized and turned dark. Grandma must of had a ton of it in her food storage though because there was never a shortage of this special honey. To this day, I still prefer my honey dark and crunchy!

I also have a memory of Grandpa and Grandmas bedroom. I always wanted a bedroom just like theirs when I grew up. It was pink and looked like a giant valentine. The carpet was pink with red and pink flowers if you can believe it and the twin beds had headboards that were crushed red velvet. Even the walls were pink. I'm beginning to think Grandmas favorite color was pink because even her white kitchen cupboards were trimmed in pink. I use to think the kitchen looked like a peppermint candy cane.

While at the reunion, the highlight of the night was that we were all going to go on a tour of Grandpa and Grandmas old house. One of my cute cousins Ashley and her husband Bret live there right now and were gracious to allow all of us to trample through. I was so excited to get there and when we arrived it was as if I had traveled back in time. Unlike a lot of older homes that get updated and remodeled, this house is still pretty much the same as the days it was lived in by Grandpa and Grandma and in incredible condition. Walking in the back door through the mud room it even smelled the exact same. Everyone has taken such good care of this special place out of respect for our grandparents. What a wonderful spirit I felt as I walked from room to room and remembered the memories of so long ago.

Grandpa and Grandma have always been close to my heart even after all these years. I have felt of their presence from time to time and I know without a shadow of a doubt that they have been there with me through times of trial and triumph. I have always tried to live up to their expectations and pattern my life after theirs. What true deciples of Christ they were and I look forward to the day that I can be with them again.

Though the walls aren't pink anymore, that wonderful carpet is still there!

The peppermint cupboards are still there but the special honey is not!

I finally have had that dream come true of wanting to be a mom just like my grown girl cousins and I am so glad I got to show my girls inside my favorite house! As for making sack lunches for the kids, that I found out wasn't all it cut out to be.....school lunch is much easier! :)

OREGON Part 3

It's a rare occasion when you can get a bunch of Garrison's all together at the same time beings that we all live in differen't states, but while we were in Oregon, not only did we have Greg and Dawna and their 2 kids there, but Grandpa, Grandma along with Aunt Dayna and two of Grandma's sisters - Gayle and Karen were there too. We decided to have a big barbeque at our camp site. It was a lot of fun and the kids were easily entertained with the playground and the grownups enjoyed telling fun stories of the past.

The highlight of going to Oregon in the kids' minds is playing in the warehouse at Mattress World. They woke up several mornings at the crack of dawn so they could make the 45-minute trek into Clackamas to work with Mark. This was one time that waking teenagers up early was no problem!

Going to the coast and touring Battery Russell was something the kids had never done even though they have been to Oregon a ton. This was fun and they enjoyed wandering in and out of the abandoned buildings where the navy once patrolled and protected the NorthWest Coast during the onset of World War 2.



Going out to the Jetty and driving the truck down onto the beach was pretty cool!



As boys growing up on the farm in Olney, Mark and Kirk use to take their boat and travel on the slew behind their house that traveled the distance to the ocean in Astoria. They would trap animals, fish or just mess around like boys do. I've told Mark several times that our boys have no daily adventures that could ever match up to what he and his brother use to do. Mark and Kirk decided it would be fun to take their boys on a boat ride on the slew and create a memory for the boys to share with their memories of the slew.

And there you have it, a 3-part blogging on our Oregon Summer Adventure 2009. UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!!!